Celebrate with us on March 2 on theDowntown Historic Square where Texas History lives, Friday, March 2 for Texas Independence Day.  Hear the Letter from the Alamo read by Travis (portrayed by Cullen Crisp) visit with Col. Sam Houston (portrayed by Boots Hubbard) and other characters. Opening ceremonies will be held at 5:00 p.m. at the Granbury SquarePlaza, pledge to the Texas flag, Texas our Texas and other historic tributes.  Come to the dance that evening from 8:00 to 11:00 and listen to live Texas music.  

The Republic of Texas lasted nine years, eleven months, and seventeen days, but the spirit of Texas lives on.  Independence has always been important to the people of Texas. No matter what culture, no matter what shade of beige their skin, Texans choose independence and freedom.

Antonio López de Santa Anna became a dictator in Mexico in 1835. His brutality and his drive to take freedom from the Texan Anglos and Tejanos alike, produced a great out-cry for independence. On March 2, 1836, a delegation met at Washington-on-the-Brazos and adopted a Declaration of Independence. The Republic of Texas was born.

Santa Anna drove his army to Texas to squash the Texas rebellion. When the Texas Declaration was signed, many settlers knew Santa Anna’s brutality would follow. They headed eastward in what became known as the Runaway Scrape.

Then those who stayed and many who came to help Texas fight for independence stepped into history as heroes. David Crockett, James Bowie, William Barret Travis, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston stood up and fought for freedom and independence. On March 6, 1836, the brave men who fought for freedom at the Alamo fell to Santa Anna’s army.

On March 27, 1836, over 300 unarmed Texan prisoners were massacred at Goliad. Sam Houston’s revolutionary army retreated eastward.

On April 21, 1836, at San Jacinto, the Texan army attacked Santa Anna’s army while it was sleeping. In only 18 minutes, they defeated the Mexican army and captured Santa Anna.

Even after San Jacinto, Mexico refused to recognize Texas’s independence and continued to raid the Texas border. With no money or credit, Texans slowly formed a stable government and nation as they fought Mexican raiders and Indian tribes.

The stories of Texas battle for freedom grew in the United States as Texas became a stable country, and in 1845, the U.S approved annexation of Texas. Texas joined the United States on December 29, 1845.

Today, Texans remain fiercely independent and ready to fight for the nation, the state and the cause of freedom all over the world and at the ballot box.

John William Smith - 1792-1845

The Last Man to Leave the Alamo                                                          By James Veale

As President of Hood County’s Davy Crockett Chapter of The Sons of the Republic of Texas (SRT), I strive to preserve the history of Texas heroes like my great-great-great-grandfather, John William Smith. Also known as El Colorado, John William Smith marked history as the last messenger from the Alamo and the first mayor of San Antonio. Born in Virginia, on November 4, 1792, he moved as a youth to Ralls County, Missouri. There he served as tax collector and sheriff and then married Harriet Stone in 1821. They had three children. In 1826 Smith followed the impresario Green DeWitt to Texas. When his wife refused to join him, he parted from his family and she obtained a divorce.

Later he remarried and moved to Texas in 1839. He lived in Gonzales, then in La Bahía, and by 1827 had moved to San Antonio. In 1828 he became Catholic in order to own land under Mexico. In 1830 he married María de Jesús Delgado Curbelo, a descendant of Canary Islanders. Between 1827 and 1836 Smith served as military storekeeper, developed mercantile interests and received a sizable Mexican land grant. He also worked as a civil engineer and surveyor.

As Texans’ desire for independence grew, war with the Mexican Army broke out. In December 1835, Smith escaped the occupying Mexican army of General Martín Perfecto de Cos and joined General Edward Burleson and the Texas army in besieging San Antonio. In early 1836, he joined William B. Travis in defense of the Alamo; he was sent by Travis as the final messenger to the Convention of 1836. Subsequently, Smith participated in the battle of San Jacinto.

After Texas independence was gained, he returned to San Antonio, where he held a number of offices. He was mayor of San Antonio for three, one-year terms during the 1830s and 1840s. He was also alderman, Bexar County tax assessor, clerk of the Bexar County Court, clerk of the Board of Land Commissioners of Bexar County, clerk of the Bexar County Probate Court, treasurer of Bexar County, postmaster of San Antonio, Indian commissioner of the Republic of Texas and Senator from 1842 to January 12, 1845. At one time he held as many as eleven different commissions under presidents Sam Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar. He died on January 12, 1845, after a brief illness, possibly pneumonia, at Washington-on-the-Brazos and was buried at the site of the current Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historical Park. His remains were later relocated to the Washington City Cemetery, where they are marked by a stone monument.

Herbert Simms Kimble

(H. S. Kimble) 1800-1865

By John E. Kimble

My great grandfather, Herbert Simms Kimble was born in North Carolina in 1800. He moved to Tennessee, became a lawyer, and in December of 1835, came to Texas. He applied for land in Robertson’s Colony, Texas January 29, 1836, stating in his petition that he was a volunteer in the Army of Texas, having volunteered on the same day and time as did Davy Crockett, also from Tennessee.

Another prominent figure in Texas Independence was George C. Childress, born in Nashville Tennessee. Childress is widely believed to have written the Texas Declaration of Independence, or most of it, before the Convention of 1836 even began. He was a friend of H. S. Kimble and was instrumental in persuading H. S. to come to Texas to become Secretary to the Convention which declared Independence from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas.

You will recall that back in those days, all documents were handwritten and it was time-consuming to re-do a document. By all reports, the weather was abysmal, the small building the delegates met in was not well heated and there was only a flap of canvas on the window. It was muddy, wet and cold. As in any endeavor, there were a lot of suggestions and George Childress and the others who were there to do the work, did their writing and construction of the famous document while the other delegates retired to a saloon across the muddy street.

If you look at reproductions of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico, the signature of H. S. Kimble appears in the lower right side of the document.

Immediately following the Convention of 1836, H. S. Kimble got on his horse and rode back to Tennessee, taking a copy of the Declaration with him to be published in a national newspaper. He never returned to Texas to claim the 5,000 acres awarded to him for his service.

He married Martha W. (Patsy) Farmer, and became District Judge in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee where a courtroom was named in his honor. Today an enlargement of a picture made from an old tintype photograph provided by John E. Kimble, his great grandson, hangs in the courtroom.

Judge Kimble died at Hadensville, Kentucky, March 5, 1865. Sixteen years after his death, his wife, Martha W. (Patsy) Farmer Kimble and three of their sons: my grandfather, Edwin Walker Kimble, Confederate war hero, Junius Kimble and Richard Herbert Kimble came to Texas in 1881 and settled in Eastland County.

For more information on The Sons of the Republic of Texas contact James Veale at jvealesrt@yahoo.com and 817.579.7653